The Daughter of Memory
by repeatedspice
Summary: So the Romans had a goddess of memory... if she had a daughter who went to Camp Jupiter, this would be the first person I'd talk to if I were Percy Jackson. Set in the Son of Neptune book.


Perden was in the middle of rearranging her bookcase when Hazel Levesque walked in. She wore her battle armour, her _spatha _swinging loosely in her hand. This, in itself wasn't all that odd – Hazel was one of Perden's closest friend at camp, and she often stopped by to say hello. What was weird was who Hazel was with; behind her trailed a flustered Frank Zhang, whose movements always seemed a bit awkward and clumsy, followed by a confused looking kid Perden had never seen before. He had sea green eyes and dark hair that was ruffled up at the back, as if he'd just come from fight. He wore a bright-orange t-shirt with jeans and carried a backpack with what looked like the head of a toy panda poking out of one of the pockets. If this were any other camp, Perden might have been surprised.

"I need your help," Hazel announced. She turned to face the panda guy. "Percy, this is Perden, daughter of Moneta."

Panda boy – Percy, frowned. "Moneta? Goddess of, no wait, let me guess… money?"

Perden figured she'd set the kid straight. She hated when people confused her mother. She cleared her throat. "Actually, that's _Juno _Moneta, goddess of money. Moneta, is the Roman goddess of memory."

Percy's eyes widened. "You mean, you can help me get my memory back?"

Perden had no idea what he was talking about, but she immediately felt sorry for the guy. He did seem a little lost, and now he looked so hopeful, it was just a tad adorable. She looked from Percy to Hazel quizzically. Frank stood back by the doorway, as if keeping guard. It was Hazel who spoke next.

"Percy has just arrived at camp, but he can't remember anything from his past, he only remembers training with Lupa. I was thinking maybe you could look through his memories, try and bring some things to the surface for him?"

Perden felt no closer to understanding what was going on, but her maternal nature kicked in. "No memories at all? That's so weird! Let me take a look." She reached forward to touch Percy's hand but he flinched away. Perden felt her face grow hot. He must think I'm mad, she thought. She probably should have made some awkward attempt at an apology, but she wasn't that type of girl.

"I probably should've explained first. I have to make some sort of _contact_ with you to see your memories, your hand seemed like the best bet. Sorry for freaking you out. I wasn't trying to make a move on you or anything."

It seemed this was the right thing to say. Percy burst out laughing, even Frank was grinning. Only Hazel looked offended –_ her_ cheeks were red and she shifted weight from foot to foot awkwardly.

"Fair enough," Percy said. "Work your magic, please." He held out his right hand and Perden wrapped it in both of hers. His palms were warm.

Perden closed her eyes and waited. This was her favourite part. The joining of minds, the flood of memories. It was like looking through a slideshow of photos; images of a person's life. But it was a process. She felt her way through the darkness inside her own head, down her neck, her shoulders, arms and hands. She pushed her conscious out through her fingertips and into Percy. Instantly, a rush of technicolour memories clouded her vision. They raced past her like a kaleidoscopic flock of birds – too quick for her to understand. She concentrated. The images slowed.

She saw Percy in the _principia_, meeting Reyna. Percy in the Tiber, making the river swirl around him. Percy carrying an old lady in a hippy dress towards New Rome. Percy being chased by two gorgon ladies in Bargain Mart uniforms. Perden pushed further back into the past. She saw Percy being taught by Lupa; seeing the great she-wolf brought a flood of nostalgia to Perden, and she felt her conscious begin to recede back into her own mind. _Concentrate_. She tried to push deeper, but her conscious hit an invisible barrier that threw her back. She tried again. No luck, it seemed like the harder she tried, the further away she got from Percy's past. She was back in his present memories; walking across the campus, entering her cabin.

Frustrated, Perden let her conscious fall back into her own mind. Her eyes shot open.

Percy was looking at her with those murky green eyes, waiting.

"Something's blocking your memories. I could only go back to you and Lupa, someone's set up some sort of barrier in there, like a security system that's preventing access to certain files. I'm not authorised to enter." When talking about the mind, Perden liked computer analogies.

Percy scowled. "Juno."

Hazel stepped forward and put her hand on Percy's shoulder. A sweet gesture. "Don't worry, Percy, I'm sure your memories will come back on their own," she smiled at Perden. "Thanks for trying."

"Wait up," Perden said suddenly. Of course, why hadn't she thought of it first? You'd think the daughter of the memory goddess would be spared from the burden of forgetfulness, but no such luck. "I might still be able to find something."

"How?" Percy asked, looking hopeful again.

Perden took a deep breath. "I'll need something you have that's old… or like, from before you lost your memories. Do you have anything on you that you just, I dunno, woke up with?" She was thinking maybe the panda.

Percy's eyes lit up. "Yeah! _Anaklusmos_!" At first she thought he'd sneezed, but then Percy reached into his pocket and pulled out a regular, ballpoint pen.

"I've had this since, well, since before I can remember," he grinned handing it to me. "Will that do?"

Perden examined the pen curiously. She couldn't think how he could have possibly carried a _pen_ around for so long, or how he was so sure that it was an item from his past, but she decided not to ask questions. She curled her fingers over the pen, enclosing it in her hand.

She closed her eyes and let her mind drift again.

The item was magical. She could feel it emanating power as soon as she penetrated its barrier. That was the second problem. The first, she had been prepared for. Inanimate objects were never as good for reading as living things, like humans, but even they could retain traces of experiences. They were just fainter, harder to find.

But Perden was lucky. Percy was right when he'd said he'd had the pen for a while; their connection was so strong it was like looking inside Percy's head again. She could see the gorgons, slashed through again and again by Percy's sword, they went further back. She half expected to be blocked out again when she reached Percy and Lupa, but instead the scenes continued. A raging battle with hundreds of terrifying monsters. Percy ran straight towards them, fearless slicing through everything in his path. The monsters clawed at him, shot fire and poison, but somehow, none of it seemed to touch him. The images were faster after that, and difficult to pin down. Perden concentrated hard, but the best she could get were snippets; random monsters, sword fights with other people; _demigods_ she thought, training activities at a campus not unlike Camp Jupiter. Most of the scenes seemed to contain the same person, she was in so many shots that the moving memories of her become one, single picture, of a pretty, blonde haired girl with intelligent grey eyes. The final memory was of the sword being plunged into a hideous, winged creature which dissolved into a cloud of dust.

It was the last thing Perden remembered before her mind went blank.


End file.
